Written by Parveen Maghera

March 8

A Separation

Stars: Peyman Moadi, Leila Hatami , Babak Karimi & Sareh Bayat

While wife, Simin, prefers to leave Iran to provide more opportunities for the only daughter, her husband, Nader, insists on staying back to care for his ailing father, an Alzheimer patient. The first Iranian film to receive the Golden Bear Award for best film, A Separation reflects a couple’s unsettling decisions, where priorities start to question the course of life.

Timeless Love

Stars: Cynthia Ruby Wang, Aloysius Pang, Kimberly Chia & Joshua Ang

After his grandmother passes away, Morgan finds himself even lonelier than he already was but his life inevitably changes when he finds, amongst his grandmother’s belongings, an island’s lease and a few photographs of his grandmother and a stranger posing intimately on the island. As he recalls his grandmother’s words of regret when he was younger, Morgan decides to put the pieces of the puzzle together and heads down to the island to seek more answers.

March 9

Silent House

Sarah, a young woman, is trapped in her family’s secluded lake house with her father. As attempts to escape get increasingly futile, she finds herself in a mist of terror as events ominously begin to unfold.

John Carter

Based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars, John Carter, the heroic character in Burroughs books and now Stanton’s film, is a Civil War veteran who is mysteriously sent to Barsoom (Mars). Victimized by the strange and untamed inhabitants of the planet, Carter later discovers the motive of his existence on the planet as he realizes how the survival of the planet and its people lay in his hands.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Stars: Jiro Ono & Yoshikazu Ono

A documentary genre film, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, follows the professional and personal life of an 85-year-old Sushi Chef, Jiro Ono. The three Michelin star awardee and proud owner of a small 10-seater Sushi restaurant in a Tokyo subway station, has only one goal in life and that is to be a perfectionist at the art of sushi. Ono makes sure every piece of sushi is meticulously put together and served at the best to his customers. Yoshikazu Onu, comes in as the only heir of Ono’s thriving sushi legacy but finds himself unworthy to live up to his father’s expectations.

Footnote

After years of unrecognized hardwork, Eliezer Shkolnick finds out that he is the recipient of a prestigious prize for his work as a professor of Talmudic Studies. His son and rising star in the same field, Uriel, is happy for his father’s success but gets entangled in a funny twist as he gets bored down to choose between his career and his father’s success. 2012 Best Foreign Language Film nominee, Footnote, tests a son’s upmost ego as he decides what is really important – his relationships or his own honour?

Bully

Stars: Kyle Goleman, Emmanuel Ayo Afuwape & Lee Ellis

A short film by Vic Alarcon, Bully is a representation of the bullying crisis in America, where the more vulnerable students are taunted and harassed in school each day and parents work indefatigably to put an end to the bullying crisis in the schools.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Stars: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas & Amr Waked

In the hope of enriching people’s lives, a sheik decides to bring salmon fishing into Yemen, a country in the desert region of the Middle-East. Though insane and unachievable, the sheik believes in the success of this project as he works with his consultant to prove it plausible.

The Decoy Bride

Stars: Kelly Macdonald, Alice Eve & David Tennant

As internationally famous star and soon-to-be bride, Lara Tyler, attempts to keep the media at bay during her wedding, her personal assistant manages to locate a secluded island on Scotland to house the solemnization and arranges for a decoy bride to fool the media.

Playback

Stars: Toby Hemingway, Johnny Pacar & Ambyr Childers

As a group of high-schoolers delve into their town’s infamous past, they unintentionally unleash a dark evil spirit that takes the possession of its victims, in the pursuit to find its heir.

A Thousand of Words

Stars: Eddie Murphy, Cliff Curtis, Kerry Washington & Clark Duke

A slick literary agent Jack McCall comes to a New Age guru, Dr. Sinja, for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja inevitably sees Jack’s true intentions and Jack is unwantedly trapped in the curse of the Bodhi tree, which mysteriously appears in his backyard.

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye

A documentary on the most influential and innovative artist in music and fine art, Genesis P-Orridge, and his wife, Lady Jaye, The Ballad Of Genesis and Lady Jaye illustrates the extent to which the couple’s love magnifies as the pair undergo transformations for the Pandrogyne project.

Sound of Noise

Stars: Bengt Nilsson, Sanna Persson &Magnus Börjeson

Police officer Amedaus Warnebring finds himself in his first musical investigation as a band of musicians go bonkers on the streets, performing with only found objects as instruments. This Swedish comedy follows a music-loather police officer on his pursuit to get rid of the band but will his family heritage of famous musicians spark his hidden taste for music?

Chaar Din Ki Chandni

Stars: Tusshar Kapoor & Kulraj Randhawa

Set against the backdrop of a wedding in traditional Rajasthan, this comedy-laced romantic Bollywood film unleashes a comedy of errors as a Rajput and a Punjabi family come together.

Kahaani

Stars: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee & Nawazuddin Siddiqui

A pregnant woman finds her way from London to one of India’s blusterous city of Kolkata, in search of her husband but many doubt her husband’s existence as the situation begin to take its true form.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

A group of British retirees seek for a less expensive retirement. Through advertisements, they find their way to the newly restored Marigold Hotel in the heart of India’s exotic city of Mumbai. However, what they see is a shell of its former self, yet they are enticed by the warmth and the simplicity of the city.

A Simple Life

Stars: Andy Lau, Deannie Yip & Sui-man Chim

A heart-warming story of the relation between a master and a loyal servant, Taiwan’s Golden Award winner A Simple Life illustrates the true meaning of devotion and loyalty as Roger takes up his valuable time to care for Ah Tao, his loyal servant of 60 years, after she suffers from a life-threatening stroke.

Friends with Kids

Life changes when a close circle of friends start to have kids. After observing how kids laid effects on their friend’s relationships, the two only singles in the group decide to have one as well, yet keeping their own relationship open, as they do know the toll kids can take on romantic relationships.